a website known as Web Soil Survey.
This program was a resource that my soil science professor recommended, and he taught us the basics of how to use the plethora of information that is provided (for FREE) thought Web Soil Survey.
To explore the website: click here
- Click on the green dot labeled "start WSS"
- Zoom into the location of choice on the United States map
- Outline the land you wish to analyze using the AOI tool, located in the tool bar directly above the map
These are the basics. I am still learning how to use the program. Once you begin to explore Web Soil Survey, you'll find that you can do all sorts of analysis.
For example:
Zooming into a location
Selecting an even smaller area within the county. I tried to analyze the whole of Rowan county, but it said "too big". So I selected a smaller area. The neat thing is that you can zoom in even closer and analyze a small parcel of land (like 2 acres, for example), but the results may not be as accurate due to the program being designed for larger parcels of land.
The Soil Map
Each number/letter combination below (in orange) represents a different type of soil, which is further explained on the left (in blue).
"Suitabilities and Limitations for Use" tab
You can analyze the parcel of land for different its functional use, such as "Vegetative Productivity" and "Water Management" (if the information is available). How cool!
"Soil Properties and Qualities" tab
Here you can look at the qualities such as chemical properties and erosion factors (displayed on the left hand side of the screen).
"Soil Reports" tab
Here you can look at the soil reports associated with "soil erosion" and "disaster recovery planning" on the left side of the screen.
Adding the reports to your "shopping cart"
Any of the information that you view through this website can be added to your shopping cart by clicking the "Add to Shopping Cart" displayed at the top right side of your screen, above the map. Once you are finished exploring the website features, you can click "Shopping Cart (Free)" to print all of your reports...and you guessed it, FOR FREE!
Printed Report
When you go to your shopping cart, you can get the downloaded document with all of the reports that you saved previously by adding them to your shopping cart. It should look something like this-
Enjoy your brand new FREE soil survey!
P.S. the next program exploration shall be: GIS (Geographic Information System)
